ANGUS MCPHEE - Weaver of Grass


ANGUS MCPHEE or MACPHEE was a crofter from Uist who spent almost 50 years in a Highland psychiatric hospital. During this time he chose not to speak - instead he wove a series of incredible costumes out of grass. These he hung on trees in the hospital grounds.

This blog follows the progress of HORSE + BAMBOO THEATRE as they develop and tour a show about Angus....

Thursday 19 May 2011

Workshopping 'Angus'


Angus drinks a cup of tea. The first thing we looked at today was Jonny's transformation to the character of Angus McPhee. 

We've also been looking at the other things that have been made in preparation for this day of workshopping, plus a few of the ideas that grow out of my script. Such as imagining Angus at the time he had returned to Uist in the 1990s and was living in Uist House. Also the young Angus - Angus as a schoolboy, and his love of horses:


Some of todays workshopping session involved film projections and these, typically, created the main problems - plenty of hiatuses whilst issues about formats and suchlike were sorted out, and the problem of a small hand-held projector that simply didn't have the power to work effectively as our back projection source. Despite this the day has been very, very useful in discovering what works well (the masks, puppets, and the staging), and what doesn't (the projector). Loz has been trying out his first musical ideas too, and we therefore already have a few short sequences where image and sound come together very powerfully. Tomorrow we build on today's work to create a 5 minute sequence for the National Theatre of Scotland, filmed in front of a live audience.


No comments:

Post a Comment